Research & reports

Julian Cribb · Cambridge University Press eBooks · Global

This concluding chapter lists the book's policy recommendations without presenting new data: build a global food system based on regenerative farming, aquaculture and urban food production; redesign cities to recycle nutrients and water into local, climate-proof food production under permaculture principles; reallocate 20% of world military spending to food-based conflict prevention; rewild half the planet under leadership of small farmers and indigenous peoples; introduce a "Year of Food" in every primary school; and put women in leadership across business, politics, government, religion and society.

Ioannis Manikas, George Malindretos, Konstadinos Abeliotis · Journal of International Food & Agribusiness Marketing · Global

An essay that states urban food production is exposed to high levels of urban-generated contaminants, and argues that urban floriculture - an intensive form of agriculture with income per unit area far higher than other agricultural branches - can offer a more sustainable and socially acceptable alternative to urban food production. It states floriculture may also reduce the carbon footprint of cut-flower transport and provide higher-quality seasonal product, and examines urban floriculture as an approach for mitigating the negative impacts of global floriculture supply chains.

Asnath Alberto Malekela · · Tanzania

In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, a study of climate change impacts on urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) drew on secondary literature plus primary data from structured and in-depth interviews, observations, and focus group discussions with 201 UPA practitioners. 84% of respondents engaged in UPA for food and income, and UPA made a positive contribution to food security. However, UPA was found to be severely affected by climate change: effects included drying of crops (41%), crop pests and diseases (28%), decreased crop yields (13%), loss of soil fertility (8%), animal diseases (43%), drying of pasture lands (41%), and livestock deaths (16%). The study states plainly that urban and peri-urban agriculture in Dar es Salaam is severely affected by climate change, and recommends adopting farming systems such as vertical farming that use limited water resources.

Michael Martin, Elvira Molin · Sustainability · Sweden

This study assessed the environmental impacts of urban vertical hydroponic farming through a life-cycle perspective, applied to a case-study vertical hydroponic farm in Stockholm, Sweden, comparing current performance with potential improvement scenarios. Results showed that growing medium, pots, electricity demand, and transportation of raw materials and product deliveries were the important contributors to environmental impact in this system. Replacing plastic pots with paper pots was found capable of producing large reductions in GHG emissions, acidification impacts, and abiotic resource depletion, and replacing conventional gardening soil with coir as the growing medium also led to large impact reductions. However, the study states that further reducing the system's impacts will require more resource-efficient steps specifically to address impacts from electricity demand, an issue not resolved by the pot and growing-medium substitutions, and identifies potential for more symbiotic exchanges using urban wastes and by-products.

Beatrice Atieno Otieno, Davis Bwire Namiripo · Australian Herbal Insight · Global

Urban gardening, an ancient practice, is described as having gained renewed significance amid rapid urbanization and associated challenges including environmental degradation and declining mental health. This study explored the multifaceted role of urban gardening in environmental, social, and health dimensions of sustainable urban development across five cities: New York, Berlin, Mumbai, São Paulo, and Nairobi. It combined structured surveys of 300 participants (covering air quality, access to fresh food, social interactions, and mental health), semi-structured interviews with 30 stakeholders including city planners and community garden managers, field observations of gardens' ecological and physical characteristics, and a review of secondary data. Results showed 67% of respondents reported improved mental health, with São Paulo and New York showing the most positive outcomes. Urban gardening contributed to reducing the urban heat island effect, with temperature reductions of up to 4°C, enhanced biodiversity by hosting various plant species that created habitats for pollinators, and served as social hubs fostering community engagement and inclusivity; 60% of respondents in São Paulo reported improved access to fresh food. The study concludes that urban gardening significantly enhances environmental sustainability, social cohesion, and mental health, particularly in marginalized communities, but states that challenges such as land access and insufficient policy support hinder its potential.

Magdalena Grochulska-Salak · Practice, progress, and proficiency in sustainability · Global

This book chapter, a conceptual rather than empirical piece, defines urban farming as building development for producing plants to meet local community needs and discusses shaping urban farms to preserve the environmental balance of urban spaces alongside the coexistence of architecture and greenery. It argues that technologies such as hydroponic and aeroponic production integrated into buildings can complement a city's functional and spatial structure in connection with public spaces and green systems, positioning the urban farm as an element of sustainable urban development.

Ana Nadal, Daniel Rodríguez-Cadena, Oriol Pons, Eva Cuerva, Alejandro Josa, Joan Rieradevall · Urban forestry & urban greening · Global

This study assessed the feasibility of implementing rooftop greenhouses (RTGs) in the social housing neighborhood "La Comuna Santa Clara de San Millán" in Quito, Ecuador. Standard assessment methods were adapted for a social neighborhood in three steps: characterization based on criteria, determination of available roof surface, and estimation of production, self-sufficiency, and self-supply. The results showed that 33.2% (7.70 ha) of the neighborhood's rooftops had short-term feasibility for installing rooftop greenhouses, with the potential to produce 1,579,140 kg of tomatoes and 56,720 kg of lettuce per year.

Sofie Bates · Eos · Global

This short item reports that placing plants near building air vents may help them grow better by drawing on carbon dioxide exhaled by people indoors, while also reducing the carbon emissions released to the outside air. No experimental method or data are given.

Irene J. Klaver, J. Aaron Frith · · Global

This chapter considers cities as agents of change by examining the socio-cultural-political implications of transitioning urban hydrological infrastructure from "gray" to "green." It argues that traditional gray infrastructure -- especially impermeable surfaces -- is costly, inefficient, and damaging to ecosystem processes, while green infrastructure -- hybrid planned spaces such as parks, wetlands, non-concrete detention ponds, and rooftop gardens -- creates permeable surfaces that allow water infiltration and other natural processes. Using a case study of detention pond SCS16 in Denton, Texas, the chapter suggests that making urban water infrastructure visible can renew community connections with water and allow urban dwellers to experience water as more than a mere utility.

Florian C. Guenther · Current Urban Studies · Global

Anticipating that 68% of the world's population will live in cities by 2050, this discussion paper argues for integrating agriculture into urban planning through ecological agricultural practices. It contends that ecological practices such as Conservation Agriculture improve soil health and crop yield, making them key to producing vegetables and fruit for urban demand while reducing transport emissions, and that extending green space through ecologically cultivated land can reduce the urban heat island effect, store more carbon in healthy soils, and improve water run-off to reduce flood risk; the paper presents no empirical data.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) · IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme (IGES) · Global

This IPCC guideline chapter sets out the First Order Decay (FOD) methodology for estimating methane emissions from solid waste disposal sites. The default fraction of degradable organic carbon that decomposes (DOCf) is 0.5 for bulk waste and 0.7 for food waste. For high-moisture, rapidly degradable waste such as food waste, k=0.2 (half-life of about 3 years) is indicated, versus k=0.02 (half-life of about 35 years) for dry, slowly degradable waste.

Martina Artmann, Katharina Sartison · Sustainability · Global

A systemic literature review of 166 academic articles focusing on the Global North examined urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) as a nature-based solution. The review found that UPA contributes to ten key societal challenges of urbanization, including climate change, food security, and public health, by providing social, economic, and environmental co-benefits. The study developed an integrative assessment framework for evaluating UPA implementation and impact efficiency, which should be tested using edible cities as an example.

S. Alan Walters, Karen Stoelzle Midden · Agriculture · Global

Vegetable production on green roofs faces multiple challenges, resulting in minimal current activity despite its potential for urban agricultural sustainability. While intensive green roof systems are considered suitable for vegetable production, extensive systems with shallow-rooted crops like lettuce, kale, and radish show the greatest potential for sustained productivity due to building weight restrictions. Deeper-root crops like tomatoes require constant monitoring of fertility and moisture. Green roofs are not presented as a total solution for urban food provision.

Nicholas Clinton, Michelle Stuhlmacher, Albie Miles, Nazli Uludere Aragon, Melissa Wagner, Matei Georgescu, Chris Herwig, Peng Gong · Earth s Future · Global

This study developed a quantitative framework to assess global aggregate ecosystem services from urban agriculture (UA) using global datasets in Google Earth Engine. Existing urban vegetation provides an estimated $33 billion annually in ecosystem services. An intensive UA adoption scenario projects potential annual food production of 100–180 million tonnes, energy savings of 14–15 billion kilowatt hours, nitrogen sequestration of 100,000–170,000 tonnes, and avoided storm water runoff of 45–57 billion cubic meters. Under this intensive scenario, the value of ecosystem services could reach $80–160 billion annually, with significant country-to-country variability.

Τhomas Panagopoulos, Ilze Jankovska, Maria Boștenaru Dan · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Global

This article examines the role of urban agriculture as green infrastructure in city resilience, noting its ecological, cultural, social, and socio-economic value. It highlights that municipal intervention is crucial for urban agriculture, providing communal infrastructure and defining rules. The article concludes that urban agriculture, supported by municipal intervention, is instrumental for city resilience by serving as a vital source of food and occupation during crises and aiding adaptation to climate change.

Rachel Carey, Sarah James · · Australia (Sydney, Melbourne)

This chapter examines peri-urban agriculture in Australia, focusing on case studies in Sydney and Melbourne. It explores the pressures on peri-urban fringes, noting that while food needs are increasing due to population growth, the capacity of these areas to meet them is decreasing due to urban sprawl. The research highlights policy and planning options to protect these regions, emphasizing their potential contribution to urban sustainability and resilience amidst climate change and water scarcity.

Robert McDougall, Paul Kristiansen, Romina Rader · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · Australia

This study evaluated small-scale urban agriculture systems in Australia using economic and emergy (embodied energy) analyses. While these systems used land efficiently, they were relatively inefficient in their use of material and labor resources. Benefit-to-cost ratios demonstrated that, on average, the gardens ran at a financial loss, and emergy transformity was one to three orders of magnitude greater than many conventional rural farms. Only 14.66% of all inputs were considered "renewable," resulting in a moderate mean environmental loading ratio (ELR) of 5.82.

Naomi Shimpo, Andreas Wesener, Wendy McWilliam · Urban forestry & urban greening · New Zealand (Christchurch)

This paper examines the community benefits provided by an established community garden in Christchurch, New Zealand, following the 2010/2011 Canterbury Earthquakes. Based on surveys and interviews, findings indicate the garden helped gardeners cope with the post-quake situation by serving as a place to de-stress, share experiences, and gain community support. Garden features encouraging social interaction, such as central meeting and communal working areas, reportedly supported disaster recovery.

Doris Laury Beatriz Dzib Moo, Sandra Patricia Dzib Moo, L.E. Gerardo González García · · Venezuela (Falcón)

This proposal introduces urban gardens for Colonia Lindavista in Tabasco, Mexico, aiming to demonstrate the benefits of urban farming. The project, initiated in January 2017 as a pilot, seeks to raise awareness and secure institutional support. It also aims to show how urban gardens can promote daily consumption of organic produce for health benefits and support family economies, thereby increasing the community's resilience.

Joana Castellar, Carlos Alberto Arias, Pedro N. Carvalho, Martina Rysulová, Joan Canals, Gabriel Pérez, Montserrat Bosch González, Jordi Farreras Morató · Desalination and Water Treatment · Global

The WETWALL design concept proposes a unique ecotechnology for secondary wastewater treatment at an urban scale, integrating constructed wetlands and modular living walls into a modular living wall hybrid flow. This article reviews existing living walls treating wastewater, focusing on nitrate and phosphate removal, and presents the WETWALL concept, including component selection (plants, substrate) and operational strategies. It also discusses potential interactions with the urban environment, aiming to substantiate WETWALL's potential as an innovative urban wastewater treatment.

Neslihan Demircan · ATLAS JOURNAL · Global

This workshop evaluated the impact of urbanization and population growth on urban agriculture. Amid challenges to food security and hygienic maintenance due to decreasing urban agricultural lands, global urban allotment models and research on their benefits to local ecosystems and the negative aspects of climate shifts were revealed.

Khadija Benis, Rukaia Gashgari, Adnan Alsaati, Christoph Reinhart · DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) · Saudi Arabia (Riyadh)

The Urban Foodprints (UF) methodology was applied to assess the environmental sustainability of high-yield urban agriculture in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, focusing on tomatoes. While urban production in high-yield greenhouses could reduce Global Warming Potential by 9% and water savings were significant, the energy needs of these greenhouses were considerably higher than the baseline. This indicates a trade-off where environmental benefits are partially offset by increased energy consumption.

Rani Prihatmanti, Nooriati Taib · Arab world geographer · Global

This paper reviews the potential of biofaçades as Vertical Greenery Systems for urban food security, optimizing them as 'Vertical Edible Landscapes' on high-rise buildings. The review identifies key factors for growing edible plants on high-rises, including plant type, climatic conditions, maintenance, and pest control. Findings suggest edible biofaçades could increase vegetable consumption, lower transport emissions, minimize pesticide use, and reduce local produce expenditures.

Georgia Pollard, James Ward, Philip Roetman · Horticulturae · Australia (South Australia)

A systematic review of literature from 1975 to 2018 on urban agriculture yield research found that only 5 out of 25 articles actively collected water use data from the perspective of water use efficiency, all from purpose-built experimental gardens. Given the scarcity of literature on urban agriculture water use efficiency and measurement, a case study from South Australia demonstrated the diversity of water pricing, sources, and irrigation methods. Four equations for calculating urban agriculture water use efficiency (WUE) were proposed.

Agatino Rizzo, Marcus Sandberg, Tim Johansson, Johan Wenngren · Diva portal (Dalarna University Library) · Global

This project aimed to explore the smart integration of food production in cold urban environments and to sketch an intelligent platform to guide a comprehensive, city-wide approach to urban farming in winter cities. The challenge involved integrating large databases related to energy consumption, building performance and size, and solar radiation, to visualize data in an easily understandable manner for city stakeholders.